Hurricane Harvey formed between Aug. 17 and 25, 2017. It started as a tropical wave off the coast of Africa on Aug. 13, then later developed as a slow-moving tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 17.

One of the most well-known areas the hurricane hit was Texas and parts of Louisiana. It was classified as a category four storm. Hurricane Harvey became the country’s first major hurricane since Wilma in 2005. Harvey started with 80 mile per hour winds and progressed into high winds of 180 mile per hour.

As a result, in the Houston, Texas area, damages are approximated to cost from about $125 billion to $180 billion, coming from financial aid.

About 13 million people have been affected, and nearly 135,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. The news of Hurricane Harvey influenced people to help and caught one East’s  High teacher’s attention.

Health teacher Beth Long has composed volunteering projects during each semester in her health classes. Volunteers such as Mimi Bach and Jurnee Williams, class of 2020, have participated in getting donations for Hurricane Harvey. They started during the first week of school on Thursday, Aug. 24, when Long heard about Hurricane Harvey. They pushed the charity project just a few days after school started. They raised about $350 over a course of about two weeks.

Health students went out and asked people at East for donations. Even spare change would make a difference. Long donated an additional $50, making a total of $400.

“It gives us a foundation to grow off of, and it’s helping us and others,” said Williams.

From this experience, Bach would like people to know, “you don’t have to donate large sums of money to think you made a difference. Spare change can help out someone out there.”

To others, spare change seems so little, but it makes a big impact and influences others who have lost everything.